The basic concept of a safety net is well known in the prior art. Safety nets have been developed and utilized to meet numerous objectives and requirements. Prior safety net designs include U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,464,962, 6,305,310, 5,429,206, 5,167,299, 4,838,382 and 4,372,243.
However, none of the above prior art patents discloses a new multilevel railcar safety catch system. The new device includes at least one multilevel railcar or vehicle loading ramp, a plurality of bridge plates, and a safety catch assembly which is removably coupled to the multilevel railcar or loading ramp, positioned such that the safety catch assembly extends between the plurality of bridge plates for the purpose of preventing persons or items from falling through the gap between the bridge plates.
Multilevel railcars are used to transport automobiles from plant sites and automobile origin locations to destinations for offloading. Once a multilevel railcar arrives at a destination facility, multiple multilevel railcars are generally connected together via a coupler. An individual worker will then manually join multilevel railcar decks together via bridge plates. A vehicle loading ramp is attached to the first or the last multilevel railcar in line, and vehicles are either loaded or unloaded across the plurality of multilevel railcars by workers driving and walking through one multilevel railcar and across the bridge plates to the next multilevel railcar.
The above scenario presents a severe safety hazard for the individual loading and unloading vehicles from the multilevel railcars, as said individual must be careful to navigate a gap between the bridge plates that couple the decks of the multilevel railcars together. Multilevel railcar workers risk severe injury or death from a fall between bridge plates. On average, the height of the first deck of a multilevel railcar is three feet off the ground, the height of the second deck is ten feet off the ground, and the height of a third deck (if equipped) is fifteen to eighteen feet off the ground. In addition to the height of the multilevel railcar decks posing a hazard, any fall takes place directly over the coupler attaching the multilevel railcars together. Workers often have to manually push vehicles that cannot be moved under their own power across/off their decks, and falls commonly occur due to the following factors: loss of balance when walking over narrow bridge plates, adverse weather conditions (such as icy, wet, or windy conditions), slick surfaces caused by oil or grease, and simply forgetting there is a gap between bridge plates when walking between multilevel railcars.
Some companies, including Toyota Canada, have solved the problem of workers falling through the bridge plate gap between coupled multilevel railcars by only allowing the loading and unloading of one multilevel railcar at a time. However, this solution is very costly in terms of the extra time it takes to implement, and in terms of the environmental toll of constantly splitting the multilevel railcars. Each multilevel railcar must be uncoupled from one another. A locomotive then moves a vehicle loading ramp into place, which is attached to the first multilevel railcar for loading/unloading. Afterwards, the vehicle loading ramp is detached and moved out of the way so the first multilevel railcar can be moved to a different track. The vehicle loading ramp is then brought back to hook up with the next multilevel railcar in line, and the lengthy process continues. In addition, there still exists the problem of a hazardous gap along the loading ramp.
An additional rail yard workplace hazard involves a gap between the bridge plates of vehicle loading ramps. Similar to the multilevel railcar bridge plate safety hazard in that falls routinely occur due to lost balance, adverse weather, slick surfaces, and people forgetting there is a gap when moving from the multilevel railcar deck to the loading ramp, there is the additional threat of an inclined/declined surface to navigate. The above inventor has attempted to solve this problem by extending ramp grating, or by welding pieces of chain link fence, from one ramp plate to the next. However, this solution is inadequate because the design of the loading ramp does not allow for the ramp grating to be fully extended across the gap, and it is often impracticable to implement given the personnel and resources available. Also, this solution dangerously encourages workers to get in the habit of being able to walk down the middle of one ramp that happens to be modified, while the majority of ramps in the industry still have a gap in the center.
Thus it is readily apparent that there is a long felt need in the industry for a new multilevel railcar safety catch system that overcomes deficiencies in the prior art in the following ways, such as: 1) the system prevents persons and/or objects from falling through the bridge plate gap between coupled multilevel railcars; 2) the system prevents persons and/or objects from falling through the bridge plate gap on a vehicle loading ramp; 3) the system is easy to setup, utilizing existing multilevel railcar parts standard in the art; 4) the system is lightweight and portable; 5) the system is flexible enough to arch over a multilevel railcar coupler, and 6) the system allows for the drainage of water and the melting of ice or snow. The present disclosure satisfies the above-mentioned needs, as well as others, and overcomes the deficiencies in devices heretofore developed.